A disgruntled New York University professor says he got canned after he gave James Franco a D in his class.

That’s a better grade then America gave him as an Oscar host.

Jose Angel Santana is suing New York University, saying the school fired him after he gave the school’s resident Oscar nominee a D in his Directing the Actor II class. Santana says Franco merited the grade because of his poor attendance record.

A rep for the school calls the claim “ridiculous.”

Maybe they fired him for not giving Franco the F he likely deserved. According to Santana’s lawsuit, filed Friday in New York Supreme Court, the “127 Hours” star showed up for two of the course’s 14 sessions and had 12 unexcused absences.

“Santana, as a full-time professor in the department, had every right to give such a grade to a student who failed to adequately attend and participate in his class,” the suit states.

Santana says Franco had comparable attendance records for other classes within NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, but that other, apparently still-employed instructors, gave him higher grades.

Franco must have been great, those two days he showed up.

Santana’s suit actually doesn’t lay the entire blame for his firing on his treatment of Franco, but his attorney told E! News it was “the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“Professor Santana, because of his ethnicity (Spanish) was treated unfairly by his department,” says attorney Matthew Blit. “He was paid less than other professors within the department and worked out of a storage closet as an office with water leaks.”

That makes sense in a place like New York, where there are hardly any folks of Latin origin.

“We would like him to be rehired,” Blit said. “NYU was a top university to him and it was very hurtful to him” when he was let go. “He would accept (NYU’s) apologies.”

NYU spokesman John Beckman didn’t indicate that would be happening anytime soon, telling E! News in a statement: “We have not seen the lawsuit yet, but the claims we are seeing in the media are ridiculous. Beyond that, it is regrettable and disappointing to see a faculty member–former or otherwise–discuss any student’s grade for the purpose of personal publicity.”

Franco hasn’t commented publicly on the suit. Funny enough, he rejoined the Tisch School this fall as a member of the faculty, teaching a course on adapting poetry into films.

THEY MAY CALL HIM 008: Daniel Craig is in the midst of filming “Skyfall,” his third outing as the iconic British agent James Bond, and if the franchise’s producer has his way, Craig will shoot five more 007 films beyond this one.

That means when he finally retired from the role, Craig would be … carry the one, plus four, add this here and … old.

It would also make eight Bond films for Craig, one more than record holder Roger Moore, who retired in the mid-1980s when he was 117 years old. Or maybe he just looked that way.

“Filming has gone very well so far and I’d love Daniel to surpass Roger’s record and do eight pictures,” Michael G. Wilson told the UK’s Sunday People. “Daniel’s been an absolute pleasure to be around because he takes the role so seriously. There’s really no one more passionate about making these films work than him – he’s a filmmaker’s dream.”

So this guy dreams about Daniel Craig. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Craig’s first turn as James Bond, 2006’s “Casino Royale,” made nearly $600 million in global box office and, according to critics, completely and totally awesome. The 2008 follow-up, “Quantum of Solace,” hit $600 million in sales as well, though wasn’t as loved by critics. By, to be fair, there were way more explosions.

“Skyfall,” due out in 2012, is being directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes and is being eagerly anticipated by 007 fans. The 23rd official Bond will be released during the 50th anniversary of the film franchise.

Asked at the film’s announcement press conference in November about fears of being typecast as an action spy, Craig said, “Look, I like to work. All I know is doing a third one (Bond film), and being given the chance to do a third, means I just want to make the best possible Bond film ever. I want it to be Bond with a capital B.”

Yeah. And a capital $.

Craig will appear this week in the American adaptation of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” Sean Connery played James Bond a total of six times, depending on adherence to official canon, some say he was in seven as well, thanks to the independent “Never Say Never Again.” Timothy Dalton had the part in two films and Pierce Brosnan, who preceded Craig, played Bond four times. George Lazenby played Bond once, following Connery’s brief retirement from the role.

BRITTANY MURPHY’S MOM SAYS MOLD KILLED HER DAUGHTER: Brittany Murphy’s mother claims toxic mold found in her daughter’s Hollywood home is to blame for both Brittany and her son-in-law’s Simon Monjack’s deaths.

Murphy died of pneumonia in 2009 and just months later her husband suffered the same fate.

TMZ reports Brittany’s mother Sharon Murphy claims the people who built the house are to blame for the mold that caused their illnesses. In a new lawsuit, Sharon alleges she was misled by her lawyers and tricked into giving up her rights to sue the builders for wrongful death.

The mold has retained legal council and had no comment.

According to TMZ, Murphy’s mother says her lawyers convinced her to accept a settlement for the construction problems in January, but they didn’t explain that the settlement included a stipulation that she would never be able to sue the builders for their alleged role in her daughter’s death.

Sharon has hired a new attorney to sue her former attorneys for legal malpractice and demanding they pay her what she could have won in a wrongful-death suit.

When Brittany Murphy passed away two years ago at the age of 32, many speculated her death was drug or eating disorder related, however it was determined the actress died of natural causes.

STAR WARS IS A RELIGION: In today’s “Nothing to see here; please move along” news, it’s official: Star Wars is a religion.

You — the 47-year-old guy living in mom’s basement who spends all his free time sending George Lucas your handwritten ‘Clone Wars” scrips — stop snickering like we’re telling you something you already know. We laughed at you first.

Anyway, according to CzechPosition.com, results of the Czech Republic’s new census says 15,070 citizens of the country listed their religion as Knights of the Jedi. Maybe that’s doesn’t stack up to the 1.08 million people who say they’re Catholics, or the four million who declined to state, it’s still a sizable portion of people who say they in the intangible energy made famous by the “Star Wars” films.

That guy in mom’s basement just started packing.

Though the Czech Knights of the Jedi wrote in their choice, other nations, such as New Zealand and Great Britain, already list the Jedi Church among the formal religion options. According to Time Magazine, over 390,000 Britons said that they practiced the religion in 2001.

Just imagine how powerful George Lucas would be if those last three movies didn’t smell worse than a wet dog.

The Church of the Jedi’s website pitches their faith as less bizarre than it may seem. Quoting Obi-wan Kenobi (he’s not real – work with us) the Force, they say, is “an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.” The site says “is a concept that most religions of the world concur with. Some refer to it as their deity, some refer to it as a life force, but the one thing nearly all religions agree with, is that there exists a single unifying force.”

That’s right — “American Idol.”

“Star Wars,” the Church says, helped create the religion’s terminology, but it did not create the faith itself.

Oh … what did? William Shatner?

“The force has always existed and always will,” their website reads. “Often references are made to the movies by our members, as a conceptual demonstration of how some might ascribe to the higher levels of a Jedi faith, in a far away land, a long time ago. The fact remains, that these concepts merely reflect a deep held innate morality, that we all have inside us… This morality existed prior to the movies. The movies do not in any way legitimize nor negate the legitimacy of the Jedi Church. They are merely a discussion point.”

Somewhere, a “Dungeons and Dragons” match is one player short.

CHAZ BONO IS SOLO: After popping the question last month during an episode of his new OWN reality series “Being Chaz,” Chaz Bono and his fiancee, Jennifer Elia, have decided to end their engagement, according to E! News.

Shortly after the news hit, Bono tweeted to fans: “Thanks for your concern about our separation. I’m doing fine, and we remain on good terms with nothing but respect and affection 4 eachother.”

Why can’t anyone simply spell out “for” on Twitter?

The couple started dating in 1999, back when Bono was technically a woman. They made it through his gender reassignment in which he transitioned from woman to man — a journey chronicled in his Emmy-nominated documentary “Becoming Chaz.”

TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 20, the 354th day of 2011. There are 11 days left in the year. The Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, begins at sunset.

1790: The first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, R.I.

1803: The Louisiana Purchase was completed as ownership of the territory was formally transferred from France to the United States.

1860: South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union as all 169 delegates to a special convention in Charleston voted in favor of separation.

1864: Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, Ga., as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his “March to the Sea.”

1945: The Office of Price Administration announced the end of tire rationing, effective Jan. 1, 1946.

1963: The Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners, who were allowed one-day visits to relatives in the Eastern sector for the holidays.

1978: Former White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman was released from prison after serving 18 months for his role in the Watergate cover-up.

1987: More than 4,300 people were killed when the Dona Paz, a Philippine passenger ship, collided with the tanker Vector off Mindoro island.

1989: The United States launched Operation Just Cause, sending troops into Panama to topple the government of Gen. Manuel Noriega.

1999: The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex.

2001: Argentine President Fernando de la Rua resigned, hours after his economy minister, following two days of anti-government unrest that left about two dozen people dead and more than 200 injured. The U.N. Security Council authorized a multinational force for Afghanistan. Microsoft admitted its new Windows XP operating system software was vulnerable to hacking.

2006: Acknowledging deepening frustration over Iraq, President George W. Bush told a news conference he was considering an increase in American forces and warned that the next year would bring more painful U.S. losses.

2010: In the biggest anti-terrorist sweep in Britain in nearly two years, police arrested a dozen men accused of plotting a large-scale terror attack on targets inside the United Kingdom. Former Mexican presidential candidate Diego Fernandez de Cevallos was freed more than seven months after his kidnapping by suspected leftist rebels.

Three women have told the New York Times that music mogul Russell Simmons raped them, the latest in a cascade of serious allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful men in entertainment, media, politics and elsewhere.